Onslaught of the Empire

[Darkened Angel]

Danika walked up to Cinn's side, staying slightly behind him to not get in his way. She was dressed in a slave outfit, not much different than her dancer clothing, but it was red and bore the Sith's insignia, marking her as his slave. She looked around but kept quiet, awaiting her master's orders.

The past couple of months brought about a drastic change in her life. She had to adjust to being the Sith warrior's slave, forced to obey his every command. However, she was fortunate in that he seemed to value her as a treasured possession, treating her rather well as long as she was obedient and pleased him. She looked at her master, ready to follow along on his conquest.  

[Cale Darksun]

The troopers around them looked up from their preparations to see not only the terror inducing sight of Cinn, but of the beautiful sight of his slave as well, many of them wondering why Cinn why Cinn was here, and why he would bring a dancing girl with him into a war zone. Cinn, of course, knew the woman was more than she appeared. Despite her benign appearance, she still had the powers and reflexes of the Jedi, and while her strength in the force was certainly weaker than a true Sith's it should be enough to keep her alive. If not, then she was not worth keeping at his side.

Cinn gestured to the fortifications of the city laid out before him and directed a question at Danika.
"Tell me, Slave. How would the Jedi deal with the defenses of this city?"
 

[Darkened Angel]

Danika looked over the location for a moment. While she didn't enjoy the idea of helping the Sith in battle, she realized that helping to ensure a quicker victory meant sparing more lives in the end. " A fortified city means multiple layers of defense, plenty of routes to retreat to, and several vantage points. "

She continued to look around as she spoke. " Defensive walls could made into a prison by causing strategic damage to structures to cut off their mobility and knocking out any mounted defenses, leaving them trapped and helpless. Blocking off the streets with armor and wreckage by destroying nearby buildings and vehicles would cut off many escape routes. Maintaining air superiority would ensure they're all forced to stay grounded in what is quickly turned into a prison, leaving outside attackers the leisure of taking it section by section. " She then turned to face the Sith. " Is this strategy to your liking, Master? "  

[Cale Darksun]

Cinn stared at the walls, arms crossed as he listened to his slave lecture him on strategy and tactics.
"We have no time for a lengthy siege." He declared. "Already preparations are in motion for the reveal of my new weapon, and I will not be delayed by these weaklings."
He then placed a hand on Danika's shoulder and pushed her infront of him, then pointed to the soldiers that were watching them.
"Order a full frontal assault." He commanded Danika.
 

[Darkened Angel]

" ... Master? " Danika started, but then simply nodded her understanding, realizing that there was nothing she could do at this point. Giving the order herself was likely some measure to torment her, and if she didn't, he'd give the order himself and punish her as well. She stood up straight, putting her hands behind her back and sticking her chest out, putting herself on display.

Danika moved an arm in front of her, pointing towards the city. " All units, storm the city, hard and fast! Hit them with everything! " she yelled in a commanding tone. She could only hope the sheer display of power would force a surrender. She fought the urge to let herself be saddened, reminding herself that it was going to happen either way.  

[Cale Darksun]

Cinn's presense was all the legitimacy Danika's order needed and, more fearful of their commander than of the enemy, the soldiers charged the enemy fortifications, guns blazing.
Darkly amused at having a slave command soldiers, Cinn then turned his attention elsewhere, drawing a datapad from his belt to examine what intelligence they had on the city.
"And while the enemy is distracted, we will break through into the city and find their leader." He stated, perusing the datapad's information.
 

[Darkened Angel]

After seeing the soldiers charge into battle, Danika returned to Cinn's side. " And the city will be yours, by choice or by force, Master. " she said in response to his statement, assuming the Sith intended to coerce the leader into surrendering at the end of his lightsaber, or kill them and take it over by force if they refused.  

[Cale Darksun]

He closed the datapad and slid it back into his belt, his iron gaze settling on the city before him.
"They have already made their choice. Now, their only destiny is to be trampled under my boot."

He drew his lightsaber from his belt and strode purposefully towards the city, his lightsaber igniting in a burst of crimson energy, the blade humming sinisterly.
"Keep up, slave, " Cinn ordered Danika as he prepared to assault the fortress. "Or I leave you to my soldiers."
 

[Nelowulf]

Knight-errant Jian Yakamura
Location: Thule
Personal Location: Travnin, Minos Cluster
Accompanying People: None
Current Attire: http://jnetrocks.deviantart.com/art/COM-Zachariah-Lineart-216076463


Inside the room, which was normally used as a long range holocom center, had been turned into the short-term conference room with several other Jedi. The artifacts he had stolen from the tombs and the armored sith was anything but fruitful. The Jedi hadn't been able to dig much up on this "Lord Kosan" or his own legacy. Whatever had been there, the sith had either forgotten about it, or the minute details had been lost in translation. While the masters really hadn't considered it an absolute waste (let's face it, those consulars who enjoyed archaeology never could pass up such a find), they had expected much more. Particularity the ones concerned with the way the war was going. They had wanted war plans, powers, numbers, the scraps of the things that might turn the war in their favor. Jian had "failed" in that attempt, though the debate of that matter had long since came and passed with the months behind.

Now, in this small room, the Jedi which had sent him to the sith's home now had something else you had in mind.

"Several months ago, another agent was sent to the planet of Thule. Since then, she has failed to report in. Supposedly she was captured on the planet. We've been trying to track the whereabouts of where she has disappeared to, but our agents are sketchy at best. We got a break several weeks ago, when the sith managed to secure another bit of this sector. Figure out how to get her back."

Jian cocked his head. "Wouldn't it be wiser to send someone with more.. experience?"

A different Jedi, Selkath by nature, spoke up next in his burbling tongue. A small translation unit allowed the speech to be translated to basic, even if the Jedi could understand intent.

"We are peacekeepers and not everyone can do what you do. How will you gain experience if you do not do such things? Do not worry, the Force shall guide you like it has so far."

Jian gave a slight groan, remembering the last few months and the random twists it had given him. An ancient Epicanthix, waved Jian over. Looking up at the elder gent, a small whack across his nose woke him up.

"You fret too much over things you cannot change. You need to relax. Light must defeat darkness," the elder master stated. Jian rubbed his nose and gave a small bow, only to get whacked again atop his head. "One more thing... You cannot just waltz in there. But even the greatest of mountains can have a single fault line which brings it down."

Jian gave a sigh and gave a nod. "Yes masters," he stated folding his hands into his sleeves.

"One more thing..." the epicanthix added. Jian took a deep breath. "Remember, Light must defeat Darkness. Darkness defines the light. Now, we'll try to assist you in what ways we can. You must define yourself though."

"So I wont' be going alone?" Jian asked, his hopes rose.

"In a manner of speaking. We'll find someone who can be of use to you. Somehow. Don't worry about the transport, we have acquired something that will get you easily behind their lines."

"I thank you, masters!" Jian said, a smile forming on his face. "It will be nice to work with another Jedi for a change."

The three masters looked at each other. The first master, an iktotchi, responded first. "We never said Jedi..." Jian's face sunk. "You save the jedi, we'll continue to do research on this Kosan. There's bound to be something somewhere..."  

[Darkened Angel]

" Yes, Master. " Danika said, staying only a few steps behind the Sith as she followed him. She looked in the distance and saw the battle raging. She shook off the oncoming feeling of guilt the best she could, reminding herself again that it was inevitable.  

[Cale Darksun]

Cinn could sense the guilt Danika felt about ordering men to their death and chuckled darkly.

"If they die, they die in shame, unable to fulfill a slave's request." Cinn declared.

Now, gunfire started to light up his position, the defenders spying the the distinctive form of a Sith warrior approaching their lines and reacting accordingly, attempting to concentrate fire upon Cinn.

Effortlessly he knocked slugs and blaster bolts aside with slashes of his blade, the occasional shot glancing harmlessly off his armor. With a gesture, Cinn ripped up a crate sized chunk of ground with the Force, casting it at an incoming rocket propelled grenade and detonating the warhead before it got close. Already from here, Cinn could sense the fear of the defenders, the mounting horror that they could not halt his advance. And it was delicious.
 

[Darkened Angel]

Danika dodged a few stray blaster bolts that were aimed in their direction, likely meant for Cinn instead of her. " It appears your reputation precedes you, Master. " she said. Her natural empathy could sense the emotions from the city as more of the people felt increasing fear at the Sith's approach. As Cinn intercepted an incoming explosive with a large chunk of the ground, Danika used a quick burst of the Force to push some of the incoming shrapnel and dirt away.

" War... " she said quietly. " So much violence... " She had never been in a situation like it before. She knew there was a lot of fighting going on, but her assignments were always in more peaceful enivornments. To actually see a battle happening before her was an unsettling experience. " So much... death. "  

[Miss-Pandemica]

Nova sat in stillness as she meditated in her chamber. Since her return to the Lady Nightwind she had recieved additional training in the Force. The mission she had participated in was a relative success though she took little pride from the experience. It was a group effort after all and Dagger squad was an exception group of people, that Nova was fairly sure the missions would have been completed even if she had not been involved in them.

Part of hoped that the next task her Mistress sought to give her would be a more interesting mission for the young Sith to truly prove her worthiness.  

[Cale Darksun]

"This is nothing." Cinn remarked, as he chopped another blaster bolt out of his path. "Just wait until we march on the Core Worlds of the Republic. It will be a glorius blood letting for Typhojem and the Emperor."
Finally within the right distance, Cinn started to jog, then full out charged the wall. With a roar he sprung into the air, vaulting himself with the Force over the walls of the city and landing on the parapet, the ground cracking as he landed. Now, with live targets to slaughter, Cinn attacked, cleaving through the defenders of Majundar and cutting down the men along the walls with the powerful strokes of a master swordsman. He swept his open right hand at an onrush of reinforcements, the squad of men being hurtled away before they could come to the aid of their fellow defenders.
 

[ElladanKenet]

Ilia Nightwind had done her research, and knew where she had to go first.

The Jedi Revan, also a noted Dark Jedi and Sith Lord, had a storied past that took him across many worlds. Though there were places when he literally vanished from the record, not even a note of death, there were places where he was too.

The most pertinant that he found was in connection to Bastila Shan, an annoying Jedi who had mastered Battle Meditation, a skill that Ilia had some talent in. Shan had been travelling to the outer rim world of Taris, before being ambushed by the fleet of Darth Malak. Infamously, she hid on the planet, unable to escape, and forcing Darth Malak to bombard the planet, destroying nearly all life. Somehow, she escaped, and days later showed up at the Jedi Temple on Dantooine, according to official records. With her were Carth Onasi of the Republic Navy, and an unnamed force sensitive.

Records on this third person were slim at best, but he apparantly had been trained as a Jedi, and assigned to work with Bastila to find some artifact of great power. Knowing where Bastila Shan ultimately ended up, at the Star Forge, made things simpler. And if Bastila was searching for the Star Forge, than this mystery person had to be Revan himself.

That Revan and Bastila met on Taris seemed beyond coincidence, so her next step was clear: go to Taris, and find out how he got there, and where they went next. The only lead she had was the Endar Spire, a hammerhead-class cruiser that Bastila Shan had been on, and crashed to the planet. Scouts reported that the ruins of the ship were still there, and worth investigating.

Beyond that, her next goal would be the enclave on Dantooine, the next place she could confirm Revan being. Both planets were on the other side of the galaxy, and would take a while to reach. With war waging across the galaxy though, and her two targets largely abandoned and ignored, she should be able to investigate in relative ease.

To accomplish this mission, Ilia knew she had to take Nova with her. She would also take one of the Fury-class ships in her task force, and use it as her ferry. The rest of the task force would stay with the fleet and assist with the subjugation of the Minos Cluster in the meanwhile.

The second necesary part had to do with Taris. On Taris were rakghouls, the most foul creatures on the universe. The smallest injury from one could yield a deadly infection, transforming the victim into a rakghouls. In order to be safest, both her and Nova, and whomever else came with her, would have to be well protected.

While arrangements were being made for a ship, Ilia went to her apprentice's chambers and rapped her knuckles on the door. The door slid open, allowing her to step in, her dark presence filling the room. "Apprentice."